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Dramaturgies of Hauntology through practice-based research methodologies in Dwelling and The Strange Geometry of Time (2018-2020) [REF2021 collection]
No full textThe Strange Geometry of Time premiered at University Theatre, Bath Spa University, June 2018. It toured to the Dreams Before Dawn Festival of European Theatre in Paris, 3rd-8th July 2018. A final performance took place in the University Theatre, November 2018.
Dwelling premiered at the Arnos Vale Cemetery, October 2019. The 2020 tour of Dwelling to venues: Poltimore House; Wycombe Arts Centre; and the Anglican Chapel, was postponed and rescheduled for 2021 (due to Covid-19). The research was presented at the Creative Corporealities Research Group, and ‘Creative Practice and Critical Thinking Symposium’, February 2020, at Bath Spa University.
The projects aimed to creatively activate theories of Hauntology and Spectrality posited by Derrida (1994), Luckhurst (2016), Fisher (2013, 2016), Rayner (2014), Blanco and Pereen (2010, 2013), Gordon (2008). The research methodology draws on terms and concepts derived from Derrida’s Specters of Marx (1994), specifically the figure of the ghost as a deconstructive tool to explore the way in which the present is not present to itself, is haunted.
This Collection comprises a multi-component output with contextualising information. Two performances make up the central outputs, The Strange Geometry of Time (2018) and Dwelling (2019-20). Evidence of the outputs and contextualising information are provided by the following:
Strange Geometry of Time: The output is documented in a video of the full performance and performance photographs. Contextualising information includes video of rehearsals, performance posters, and a text document detailing methods and processes.
Dwelling: The output is documented in a collection of five short films, a video of the full performance, and a performance trailer video. Contextualising information includes publicity design, a text document detailing methods and processes, and a text document detailing Covid-19 pandemic-related delays to the project.
Context for the overall research is provided in a 300-word statement, research timeline, and research questions
evALLution: making basic evolution concepts accessible to people with visual impairment through a multisensory tree of life
Get PDFBackground:-
People with visual impairment have benefitted from recent developments of assistive technology that aim to decrease socio-economic inequality. However, access to post-secondary education is still extremelly challenging, especially for scientific areas. The under representation of people with visual impairment in the evolution research community is connected with the vision-based communication of evolutionary biology knowledge and the accompanying lack of multisensory alternatives for learning.
Results:-
Here, we describe the development of an inclusive outreach activity based on a multisensory phylogeny representing 20 taxonomic groups. We provide a tool kit of materials and ideas that allow both the replication of this activity and the adaptation of others, to include people with visual impairment. Furthermore, we provide activity evaluation data, a discussion of the lessons learned and an inclusive description of all figures and visual data presented.
The presented baseline data show that people with visual impairment indeed have lack of access to education but are interested in and apt to understand evolutionary biology concepts and predict evolutionary change when education is inclusive.
Conclusions:-
We show that, with creative investment, basic evolutionary knowledge is perfectly possible to be transmitted through multisensory activities, which everyone can benefit from. Ultimately, we hope this case study will provide a baseline for future initiatives and a more inclusive outreach community
The craft of teaching musical improvisation improvisationally: towards a theoretical framework
No full textBored
No full textBoredom as a subject has a significant legacy in contemporary art. Bruce Naumann has returned to it again and again. John Baldessari famously promised not to make any more “boring art” and artists as diverse as John Cage, Andy Warhol, and Yoko Ono have conjured up artwork after artwork where nothing happens. Literally. It is within this (boring) lineage that Cristin Tierney Gallery presents a selection of works by John Wood and Paul Harrison
VALUE study: a protocol for a qualitative semi-structured interview study of IVF add-ons use by patients, clinicians and embryologists in the UK and Australia
Get PDFIntroduction:- For couples undergoing assisted reproduction, a plethora of adjuncts are available; these are known as ‘add-ons’. Most add-ons are not supported by good quality randomised trial evidence of efficacy, with some proven to be ineffective. However, estimates suggest that over 70% of fertility clinics provide at least one add-on, often at extra cost to the patient. This study has three aims. First, to undertake a survey of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinics in the UK to ascertain which add-ons are being offered and at what cost. Second, to undertake qualitative semi-structured interviews of patients, clinicians and embryologists, to explore their opinions and beliefs surrounding add-ons. Third, to review the interpretation of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority traffic light system, to better understand the information required by IVF patients, clinicians and embryologists when making decisions about add-ons.
Methods and analysis:- All UK IVF clinics will be contacted by email and invited to complete an online survey. The survey will ask them which add-ons they offer, at what cost per cycle and how information is shared with patients. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted in the UK and Australia with three groups of participants: (i) fertility patients; (ii) clinicians and (iii) embryologists. Participants for the interviews will be recruited via social media channels, website adverts, email and snowball sampling. Up to 20 participants will be recruited for each group in each country. Following an online consent process, interviews will be conducted via video-conferencing software, transcribed verbatim and data subjected to inductive thematic analysis.
Ethics and dissemination:- Ethical approval has been granted by the Universities of Sheffield, Bath Spa and Melbourne. Findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated to regulatory bodies in the UK and Australia. A lay summary of findings will be shared via Fertility Network, UK
Moving beyond 'the cheapest kind of understanding': enriching policy responses to BAME mental health inequality
Get PDFFor more than 70 years, significant disparities have been persistently reported regarding mental health trends and the England’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) population. Today, these disparities are generally accepted as inequality, acknowledging that BAME status often carries social disadvantages that can materialise in mental health contexts. The current Covid-19 pandemic and global rise of anti-racism protests have brought such issues into sharp relief. Despite the State’s declared ambition to decrease rates of mental health issues/distress, little has been implemented at a national level to address BAME mental health inequality. This thesis considers what policy-makers of future national strategies might learn from people from BAME backgrounds experiencing mental health issues/distress.
Taking a critical realist perspective and responding to gaps in the literature informing policy, I move away from a focus on in-patient experiences. Employing a pan ethnicity and mental health issue/distress sampling approach, I conduct an in-depth exploration of the testimonies of seven participants at various intersectional locations within the BAME mental health space. Semi-structured interviews and
unstructured ethnographic conversations over an 18 month period enabled participants to foreground the issues they felt were most pressing to discussions of mental health. The length of individual engagements and locations were continually adapted to meet the needs and wishes of participants.
This thesis explores the topic of BAME mental health inequality in three key ways: how the issue is defined; determinants of inequality in a mental health context; and
interactions with mental health support services. These themes align with issues raised by participants and the way that policy makers often consider health inequality, whilst also providing opportunities to engage with more critical
perspectives that challenge epistemological and ontological assumptions.
Within these top-level themes, multiple sub-themes emerge. I found these broadly aligned with those in the critical literature. Primarily that racism and migratory experiences are factors in mental health issues/distress for many people.
However, participants also placed greater emphasis on wider social inequalities and intersectional experiences than is generally represented. Though concerns differed according to participants’ intersectional locations, they were present in all testimonies. In particular, the experience of poverty was continually raised as a key aggravating factor in mental health issues/distress, as was having to engage
with processes that re-traumatise so as to receive support.
This re-traumatisation often related to people’s intersectional locations. Additionally, this research found a strong indications that experiences of disability and their psychological impacts warrant further investigation.
Using my findings to enable decision-makers to better align national policy with the lived experiences here presented, I suggest conceptualising BAME mental health inequalities as a ‘wicked problem’. This is with a view to engendering an
understanding of the issue that encompasses the diversity of perspectives relevant to this population group, and a greater acknowledgement of the interconnecting and ‘open’ systems at play when developing policy responses.
Additionally, I promote the employment of an intersectional lens to enrich understandings of how these systems interact to produce and maintain such imparity. I conclude by offering the conceptual tools of the ‘wicked’ problem and intersectionality as a means of enabling policymakers to move beyond the ‘cheapest kind of understanding’ in policy making. Without embracing these concepts within policy making in this topic area, it is unlikely that more that minor improvements will be possible. Embracing these provides an opportunity to build services better suited to the needs of intersectionally located people experiencing
mental health issues/distress
Pond ecology and conservation: research priorities and knowledge gaps
Get PDFPonds are among the most biodiverse and ecologically important freshwater habitats globally and may provide a significant opportunity to mitigate anthropogenic pressures and reverse the decline of aquatic biodiversity. Ponds also provide important contributions to society through the provision of ecosystem services. Despite the ecological and societal importance of ponds, freshwater research, policy, and conservation have historically focused on larger water bodies, with significant gaps remaining in our understanding and conservation of pond ecosystems. In May 2019, pond researchers and practitioners participated in a workshop to tackle several pond ecology, conservation, and management issues. Nine research themes and 30 research questions were identified during and following the workshop to address knowledge gaps around: (1) pond habitat definition; (2) global and long-term data availability; (3) anthropogenic stressors; (4) aquatic–terrestrial interactions; (5) succession and disturbance; (6) freshwater connectivity; (7) pond monitoring and technological advances; (8) socio-economic factors; and (9) conservation, management, and policy. Key areas for the future inclusion of ponds in environmental and conservation policy were also discussed. Addressing gaps in our fundamental understanding of pond ecosystems will facilitate more effective research-led conservation and management of pondscapes, their inclusion in environmental policy, support the sustainability of ecosystem services, and help address many of the global threats driving the decline in freshwater biodiversity
Why the urge to kiss someone can be so overpowering [blog post]
No full textHow paying attention to specific feelings can prompt meaningful self-reflection. Key points:
1) There is debate about what exactly emotions are, and how many of them people have.
2) Interrogating precise emotional states may offer clues about one's broader, more pervasive feelings.
3) Basorexia is the name given to the specific emotion of wanting to kiss someone
Tasting the lost flute music of Sesfontein: histories, memories, possibilities
No full textPolyphonic music played by ensembles of male flautists and accompanied by song-stories sung primarily by women has been recorded historically over the last 500 years for Khoekhoegowab-speaking peoples in southern Africa. Fragmented and disrupted through dramatic changes wrought by the expanding frontier of the Cape Colony, and later in Namibia through colonialism and apartheid, it appears likely that the last place this flute music was played was Sesfontein / !Nani|aus in north-west Namibia. It is also likely that the last time the flute music – ǂhā – was recorded in Sesfontein was in 1999 by ethnomusicologists Emmanuelle Olivier from France and the late Minette Mans from the University of Namibia. Twelve digitised recordings of Nama-Damara flautists and accompanying vocal performances are now catalogued in Olivier’s Namibia collection in the British Library Sound Archive. Initial engagement with this audio material suggests continuity with several dimensions of the Khoe / Nama flute music known from around forty reviewed historical and ethnographic observations. These records stretch back to Vasco da Gama’s 1497 encounter with a Khoe flute orchestra of around 200 men near Mossel Bay, South Africa. Some identified continuities include the playing of single-note and named flutes made carefully to sound at specific pitches, the form and structure of the ensemble music, and the type of events and themes commemorated by a flute-music performance. Starting in 2017, the Olivier / Mans recordings and accompanying images have been returned to contemporary inhabitants of Sesfontein, demonstrating that although the flute music is no longer played, people remain today who remember the songs, the flautists, the contexts in which the music was played, and the meanings of the music and accompanying performances. Our title reflects listeners’ observation that when the songs start to flow easily the women get the ‘taste’ (ǁhoaba) of the music, the experience of which enables them to improvise more easily with their harmonies. This paper incorporates audio and images to share something of what we are learning through returning the music and images to the context in which they were made, as well as exploring connections between the recent Sesfontein flute music and Khoe / Nama flute music in time and space more broadly. We close by discussing possibilities and constraints regarding the restitution, recovery and possible recomposition of the Sesfontein flute music today